Lock for gear-shifting-lever mechanism



June 22 1926.

O R SCHOENROCK Loox FOR GEAR SHIETING LEVER MECHANISM Filed Deo. 4. 1924Patented .lune 22, 1926. v n

UNITED STATES PATENT oFFlcE;

" OTTO R. SACHOENROCK, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOISA v,ASSIG'NOB TOINTERNATIONAL HAB- VESTER COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

LOCK FOR GEAR-SHIFTING-LEVEB MECHANISI.

Application led December 4, 1924. Serial No. 753,788. I

This in vention relates to lever mechanisms Fig. '5 is a rearelevational view of the u for shifting the gears to change speeds inlower end of the lever in association with the selective geartransmissions suchl as emguide and locking plate. ploye'd' inautomobiles and tractors. More The preferred embodiment of theinvenartieularly, it relates to locking mechanisms tion has beenillustrated in connection with or the well-known ball shift levers,which a four speed type of selective gear trans- 60 will -automaticallyretain such levers locked mission, which, as is well known, `embodies inany selected position of adjustment. three speeds forward and onereverse'. The l A It has been found that the gears in selecball 't pegear shift lever is positioned active sliding transmissions for the typemencessib e to an operator of a tractor or autotioned, in time becomeworn and that due mobile and is mounted for universal move- 66 to 'suchwear the gears at times unm'esh, ment 'in the top plate 10 of the gearenclosespecially when vdriving in the low speeds 111g transmissionh-ousin This late 10 is necessitated by heavy loads. provided on itsunder si e with a earing 11 Accordingly,y the main object of thisyinwhich recelves the conventional ball 12 of a vention i'sto preventsuch unmeshing. of hand shift lever 13, the ball being free in the 70gears by providing a locking mechanism, bearm for universal movement. Anenclos,- which automatically will lock the lever in lng colar 14 iscarried on the top side of any of itspositions of adjustment to wit: theplate, the plate, bearing, and collar all neutral, low, intermediate,high and reverse belng securely fastened together by Suitable speeds, ifapplied to the conventional speed bolts 15, the and lever extendingupwardly 75 arrangement. through the collar. Surrounding the upper It isa further object to provide a novel end of the lever 1s a flexibleprotective memguilde and locking member "adapted for use ber 16 whlchloosely hugs the lever at its as an attachment to existing forms oflever upper end and 1s clam ed to the collar 14 shifts, said membercooperable with an exby mea-11S `0f an annu ar clamp 17 at its sotension on the lever to lock it in any of the lower end, tllllS@ffetlvely Sllllttllgv Out dirt. positions of adjustment. mentioned, vAs 1s usual, the hand lever extends .below Another object is to providea lever which the ball 12, 8S Clearly Shown 1n F ig. 1. A

' 30 is normally in a down position for lookin wall18 of thetransmission casing carries for it in a certain position of adjustmentan mOVement therethrough, the usual sliding which must be axially movedupwardl bekeys 01' IOdS 19 WhlCll Carry and 0 elaf the fore anotheradjustment can be effecteds.7 Sll'lper forks, not shown, for e eting aStill another object is to provide a sim 1e S11 n 0f the gears 1n thetransmlsslon casand efficient mechanism of the type speci ed lllglleSeSlidingl keyS are provided with which is well adapted for commercialuse. COIIVeDtOIlal hOOlIed elldS 20 adapted to be I0 In the accompanyingsheet of drawings is engaged by the usual ball 21 at the lowerillustrated the preferred embodiment of the 811 0f the hand leVeI- TheuSUalSprlng invention. Like characters -of reference., de- Pressed,yleldable pawls 22 are h kewlse note like parts throughout the "severalviews, Shown, the Purpose of Whlch 1S as 1S Well and in the drawings,-lmown, to prevent disenga .ement or 'un- I6 Fig. 1 is a side elevationalview, partly in meshmg 0f the gernlg 111 a ]\1,Ste,d Posltlonsection, ofthe improved locking mechanism Where the gearing 111 `lilIlSIIllSSlellmeehf associated with a gear shift lever of the DlSmS are PleClSely Cutthese 10Ck111g PaWlS ball type; 22 just mentioned are sufficient forretain- Fig. 2 is a plan view of the guide meming the gearing inmeslihowevelj, in 701111116 100i ber and locking plate, the lever beingshown production where precislon gearing are not in section alwaysturned out, and even where the gears Fi 3 is a detail plan view of theguide are precise 1n thefirst mstance, they become 5 and ocking plateand showing the lever -worn after extenslve use and their teethbevdiagrammatically in the various positions eled to such an extentthat, especially when of adjustment which it may assume; driving in thelower speeds for heavy 'duty Fig. 4 is a side elevational view of thework, the gearing will notremain in mesh, ,samedetail shown in Fig. 3;and because these pawls are lnsu'cient. The

Sil'

hand lever thus frequently becomes unlocked, wherein lies the problemwhich this invention proposes to solve. Bolted by `means of bolts 23 tothe wall of the transmission casing i8 is a bracket or guide member 24.comprising a vertically disposed wall portion 25 which is slottedintermediatel of its ends as shown in Fig. fl. lntegrally termed withthe vertical wall near its lower end is a locking plate 26, a part ofwhich is disposed on each side of the wall 25 and extending therealong adiderential distance; that is, the plate extends a greater dista-ncealong one side of the wall 25 than on the other,

for, as is well blown, such construction is necessary in edectingsliding movements of the lever for making the diderent adjustments, asthe throw ci? the lever varies for each adjustment. At the lowertermination el the vertical slot in the wall 25 and disposed centrallyin the plate 26 is an aperture 'l which receives an integral extension28 of the hand lever below the ball 2l. ln the neutral position of thelever, this extension 28 rests in the aperture 27 in the locking plate,

lt will be observed that the lower end of the bearing ll has fittedthereover and around the lever a cap 29, against which is seated a coilspring 30 encircling the lever and abutting at its other end against awasher 3l held in place on the lever by a pin 32. The s ring 30 beingunder compression the hand `ever is normally pulled downwardly so thatwhen the extension 28 is in the neutral position it will be hept thereby the rpring. llt will be observed that there are 'our end edges (Fig.3) of the'iopposed led es of the plate 26 and that by pulling lthe andlever upwardly axially of its length the extension 28 may be disengagedfrom the neutral position and shifted in the conventional way to any ofthese end positions whereupon release of the lever wil permit the springto exert a force which will pull the lever downwardly so that theextension 28 will catch or lock over the particular end construction otthe collar 14, shown clearly in lFig. l. (lf course, when raising thelever and moving it laterally, the hook 20 of one of the sliding keys isen aged bythe ball 21 and when the lever is sl ifted to one of thepositions of adjustment the key is, of course,

' carried with it, thereby moving the shipper fork (not shown) tochange'the mesh of the gearing 1n the transmission casing.

As has been said, the preferred embodi`v ment of the invention only hasbeen shown, and certain modications will readily sugst themselves to theskilled workman. For instance the ball 12 of the hand lever may be fixedand mounted only for universal movement, with the levez' slidableaxially of recense its length relatively to the ball l2 by means of athrough-hold in the ball. ln such a construction a spring would not benecessary, for the lever could drop into adjusted position by gravity;also the plate 26 need not be made integral with the wall 25 of theguiding bracket, for angle irons of differential lengths could be boltedor riveted to the opposit sides of the wall 25 and serve the samepurpose.

lt will thus be seen that there is herein provided apparatus in whichthe several objects of this invention are achieved and that the same issimple in construction yet dependable in action and that it is welladapted to meet the exacting conditions oit hard, practical use.

As already pointed out, the form of the invention herewith shown anddescribed is to be taken as a referred example of the same, and thatvarious changes in the shape, size, arrangement and construction may beresorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or thescope of the appended claims is to be understood.

lWhat is claimed is:

l. ln a gear shifting mechanism, a housing therefor, a lever mounted inthe housing lor universal movement, a stationary guide member carried bythe housing, and cooperating means on the lever and guide member forretaining the lever in adjusted position.

the lower lend of the lever being engageable with the 'guide in onepositlon to lock it, and being bodily and axially movable to unlock thelever end and permit itsl transfer to another position to lock it in thenew position.

3. ln a gear shifting mechanism, a housing therefor, a lever mounted inthe housing lor universal movement, a stationary guide and lockingmember carried by the housing, and means for normally holding the leverin engagement with the member, said lever being axially and bodilymovable to be disengaged lfrom said member.

l. ln a gear shifting mechanism, a housing therefor, a lever universallymounted therein intermediately of its ends, a guide for the levercarried by the housing, locking devices on the guide, the lower end ofthe lever normally engaging one of said devices, the lever being-axiallyand bodily movable for disengagement of said end from said device andpermitting the same `to be shifted to engage another locking device.

5. lin a gear shifting mechanism, a housing therefor, a lever mountedtherein, a guide for the lever carried by the housing, a locking plateon the guide and extending therealong on each side thereof, said leverwith a central aperture for receiving the end of the lever in neutralposition, the locking plate extending along opposite sides of the guide,the lever being axially movable out of neutral to be moved to engageover any end of the locking plate for holding the lever in any of thesepositions of adjustment.

7. In a gear shifting mechanism, a housy ing therefor, a lever mountedtherein, a vertical guide carried on the housing, a horizontallydisposed plate extending along opposite sides of the guide, the leverbeing movable through the guide and therealong to engage the ends of theplate.

8. 1n a gear shifting mechanism, a housing therefor, a lever mountedtherein, a vertical guide carried on the housing, a horizontallydisposed plate extending along opposite sides of the guide, the leverbeing movable through the guide and therealong to engage the ends ofthe' plate, and means exerting a force on the lever to retain it lockedbehind any selected end of the plate.

9. In a gear shifting mechanism, a housing therefor, a lever mountedtherein for universal and axial movement, a vertically disposed slottedguide carried on the housing, and a horizontally disposed aperturedlocking plate extending along and on opposite sides of the guide, thelever movable through the guide and having an extension normallyengageable with the aperture in the yplate and axially movable to beshifted to engage selectively and lock over any end of theplate oneither side of the guide for retaining the lever in adjusted position.

10. In a gear shifting mechamsm, a housing therefor, a lever mountedtherein for universal and axial movement, a vertically disposed slottedguide carried on the housing, a horizontally disposed apertured lockingplate extending along and on opposite sides of the guide, the levermovabletlirough/ the guide and having an extension normally engageablewith the aperture in the plate and axially movable to be shifted tovengage selectively and lock over any end of the plate on either side ofthe guide for retainmg the lever in adjusted position, and a springencircling the lever for exerting a force .to pull it downwardly toretain the y extension on the lever locked in engagement with theaperture or any Vof the selected ends of the plate.

11. In a gear shifting mechanism, a housing therefor, a unitary levermounted in the housing for universal movement and having' its lower endnormally locked in an adjusted position, said lever being bodily andaxially movable for effecting unlocking and shifting thereof to anotherposition of adjustment.

12. In a gear shifting mechanism, a housing therefor, a lever includingan integrally formed ball mounted for universal and axial movement inthe housing, means engageable by the lever for shifting gears, andmeansfor locking the lever in any of a plurality of positions ofadjustment.

13. In a gear shifting mechanism, a housing therefor, a lever mountedfor universal and axial movement in the'housing, means engageable by thelever for shifting gears, a locking plate, and means for automaticallylocking the lever with respect to the plate in adjusted position.

14. In a gear shifting mechanism, a housing therefor, a lever in thehousing' for effecting gear shifting, means for locking the lower end ofthe lever in ani;I one of a plurality of positions of adjustment, andmeans permitting a bodily displacement of the lever to unlock its lowerend for effecting a shift to another position of adjustment.

In testimony whereof I aix my signature.

oTTo R. scHon'NnocK.

